Got her wet......

Couldnt help it and promised my self I wouldnt ever let happen, but my son got married Sat and wanted pic of the 2 of them in front of the car. No big deal, except for it rained like heck and now I've got wet carpet/pan. Any prob w/just letting it dry out, or should I pull the carpet and re adhesive it back? Yes, the pic came out great, and I suspect the car will be ok, oneway or another. Thx in advance for suggestions.

Dale,

This happened to me before I installed the top. Pulled the seats (four bolts each), removed any carpeting not glued down, ran a fan into the interior for a couple of days and ran a dehumidifier close by.

Dale,

I too found out how well my 'tub' holds water... I left everything in place but soaked, sucked and squeeged the B-Jeeeezus out of everything. I didn't want to unzip all the carperting, that looked like a real headach.

Long and the short of it, two years along no problems, no musty smells, no rot, hopefully no damage, long term.
MM

My car sits outside in the summer and one particularly wet weekend about 1" of rain seeped in and sat in the back floor area. All of my carpets are not glued in especially for this. My seat rails are welded to the bottoms of the seat bolts so the whole thing comes out with 1 tug. With the top down after mopping up it took 2 hours in the sun and all was gone. When I rebuilt Fern I thought that this would happen so my carpets are placed but not glued. On the sides I have small screws holding it in place. This can be backed out easily.

Dale,
This all depends on your carpet. If you paid extra for german square weave wool, your pretty screwed. It going to smell like a wet dog no matter what you do. Remove and replace the wet portions or get used to buying a new air freshener every week.

If however, you have the standard VS marine grade carpet, your on happy street. Suck out any excess water with a shop vac and leave a fan blowing on the carpet until it is dry. Should have no problems. It may smell slightly musty if it has been wet for a few days, but that will quickly go away.

-=theron

MIke, you leave your speedster outside at night....you're a cruel man!
Ron

And if you haven't already gotten enough advice, you can always try an ozonator that will kill/prevent mildew. You can rent these devices I believe. I have a boat and keep one on hand to eliminate diesel and musty odors, and they really work. The cost is somewhere between $300-$400, so rental is the only viable option in your case(if you feel you need this sort of extreme unction). The unit I use is made by Quantum Marine.

Dale,

The obvious place the water will sit is the floor pan, and getting the water out will be a pain, just don't forget about the seats and door panels. There could be water in the doors too. Pull out as much carpet as you can without damage of course.I would take the seats out and stand them upside down for a few days as well if possible. Water will travel everywhere, but as long as you jump on it right away you should have no serious issues.

Hey RonO no choice here. No garage. But she's covered with a cover. In the winter she's on blocks in storage.

Oh, and congratulations on the wedding too!

Patrick

Thx all for the great info. Good old marine carpet..looks like she'll survive. I think the pic I got was worth it.....

Dale

Dale,

Great looking trio, the car would make a great wedding gift :>)

Dale, I can't believe you let them stand in front of the car! Couldn't they have stood beside it or behind it? I mean, they almost block out half the car....they must have taken that when you weren't looking, right? ...OK, it's a nice shot.

Hey Ron, do you have the motor fully apart yet? I can sell you a stock 1600, single carb, cheap...might give you a bit of a boost in power (ha, Ha).
Any more thoughts on your new motor?

The motor is down to the short block, but I am ordering a 2332 instead of rebuilding this one so now I am on to the transmission and rear brakes. I want to get the tranny beefed up and while it is all apart I figure I might as well put rear disks on.

When the weather is rainy it's easy to pile up the work. When the weather is nice like today I just want to slap it all back together and go for a drive!

I might take you up on the 1600 when it comes time for aircare though.